Norris homer helps A's rally to clip Cubs

OAKLAND, Calif. — Derek Norris hit a three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning and Oakland rallied to beat Chicago 8-7 on Tuesday and regain the AL West lead.

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By The Associated Press

MailTribune.com

By The Associated Press

Posted Jul. 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 3, 2013 at 3:00 AM

By The Associated Press

Posted Jul. 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 3, 2013 at 3:00 AM

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OAKLAND, Calif. — Derek Norris hit a three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning and Oakland rallied to beat Chicago 8-7 on Tuesday and regain the AL West lead.

Norris sent the 2-2 pitch from James Russell (1-2) over the left-center field wall for his fourth home run this season. Josh Donaldson and Chris Young also homered to put the A's a half-game ahead of Texas, which lost 9-2 at Seattle.

Alfonso Soriano hit a three-run homer and Welington Castillo drove in three runs for Chicago.

Dan Otero (1-0) pitched one scoreless inning for his first career win, and Grant Balfour finished for his 20th straight save this season and 38th overall.

Angels 5, Cardinals 1

At Anaheim, Calif., Jered Weaver earned his second win of an injury-plagued season with help from a five-run second inning, and Los Angeles beat St. Louis to extend its win streak to seven.

Three-time NL MVP Albert Pujols played his first game against his former club and was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and a walk as the designated hitter, while Mark Trumbo started at first base.

Red Sox 4, Padres 1

At Boston, Brandon Snyder hit a bases-loaded double and John Lackey struck out six over eight strong innings for Boston in a win over slumping San Diego.

Lackey (6-5) scattered six hits and walked one while moving above .500 for the first time since late in 2011. The only run Lackey allowed was a solo homer by Jesus Guzman in the seventh.

American League

Mariners 9, Rangers 2

At Arlington, Texas, Kendrys Morales homered twice and tied a career high with six RBIs to lead Seattle past Texas.

Morales had a solo home run in the first and a three-run shot in the fifth off rookie Justin Grimm. The switch-hitter added a two-run single in the sixth.

Joe Saunders (6-8) won for the first time in eight regular-season starts at Rangers Ballpark. The left-hander allowed two runs — one earned — and struck out five in 62/3 innings.

Seattle's Raul Ibanez, who hit 10 homers in June, had a solo shot for his 20th homer of the season. Grimm (7-6) gave up six runs and seven hits in four innings.

Tigers 7, Blue Jays 6

At Toronto, Torii Hunter drove in the tiebreaking run with a two-out infield single in the eighth inning and the Detroit Tigers rallied from a 4-0 deficit to beat Toronto.

Hunter had four singles and Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run home run, his 26th, as the Tigers snapped a three-game losing streak.

The White Sox ended a five-game skid and avoided falling a season-high 16 games below .500.

Yankees 7, Twins 3

At Minneapolis, Robinson Cano homered for the third straight game and Phil Hughes gave up one run on six hits in seven innings, lifting New York over Minnesota.

Cano followed up a two-homer performance Monday by going 2 for 4 with three RBIs and Alberto Gonzalez had two hits and three RBIs as well for the Yankees. New York has broken out for 17 runs in the first two games of the series to snap a five-game skid.

Rays 8, Astros 0

At Houston, David Price pitched three-hit ball for seven innings in his return from the disabled list and Desmond Jennings homered and drove in four runs as Tampa Bay beat Houston.

Indians 6, Royals 5

At Kansas City, Mo., Carlos Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera each drove in a pair of runs, and Cleveland took advantage of some wild pitching to beat Kansas City.

Mark Reynolds and Jason Giambi also drove in runs for the Indians, who capitalized on eight walks by Royals starter Luis Mendoza and the Royals' bullpen to win their fifth straight game.

National League

Dodgers 8, Rockies 0

At Denver, Clayton Kershaw tossed a four-hitter for his second shutout of the season and rookie sensation Yasiel Puig had three more hits, including a solo homer, to lead the Dodgers to a win over the Rockies.

The 22-year-old Puig also added a double and a single to raise his average to .443 this season.

Phillies 3, Pirates 1

At Pittsburgh, Jonathan Pettibone pitched neatly into the sixth inning, and the Phillies snapped the Pirates' nine-game winning streak.

Phillies slugger Ryan Howard ended an 0-for-22 slump — 12 strikeouts — with an RBI single in a three-run sixth to open the scoring. Howard and Michael Young each had two hits for Philadelphia, which scored all of its runs against Pirates rookie spot starter Brandon Cumpton (0-1).

Brewers 4, Nationals 0

At Washington, Stephen Strasburg had hitters flailing at curveballs for seven scoreless innings, getting all eight of his strikeouts with the same pitch in a magnificent outing that was wasted when the Brewers scored off the Nationals bullpen.

Braves 11, Marlins 3

At Atlanta, Chris Johnson's two-run, go-ahead double was the big hit in a four-run sixth inning that helped the Braves to a win over the Marlins.

The Braves set a season high with 16 hits and matched their high for runs.

Mets 9, Diamondbacks 1

At New York, Jeremy Hefner and the Mets handed Patrick Corbin his first loss, breaking away from the Diamondbacks on a drizzly night and sending the NL West leaders to their season-worst fifth straight defeat.